Ranger Diary Blog

Good day and welcome to Kololo’s Ranger Diaries Blog, where the rangers of Kololo will share with you some of their best stories (Lions hunting, Elephants fighting), sightings (porcupine, aardvark) and interesting things that we have discovered on a regular basis…

For fun and adventure make sure you log on to Kololo’s Ranger Diaries on a regular basis. These are the Kololo rangers:

Paul Griffin

Prince Makgai

The rangers of Kololo are South Africans, therefore the ranger diaries will be published in English.

The Black-Chested Snake Eagle

A game drive can be extremely action packed when not just looking for the big mammals. The Black-chested snake eagle (Circaetus pectoralis), also known as black-breasted harrier eagle is one of the many eagle species to be seen at Kololo and Welgevonden. It is easily recognizable in flight with its white belly and dark head.

Great photos

It has been an amazing few weeks on Kololo and Welgevonden, and on each drive you can hear cameras snapping away at the sight of beautiful creatures, sunsets and birds. Cheetahs, Lions, Hippos and more, all came out to play and we could enjoy every single minute of it.

Nature is a strange and unpredictable thing, and a game drive never really goes as planned. Some days you could struggle to find the animals, and some days luck takes over and there is a surprise behind every tree.

Lion’s Tail

The Lion’s tail (leonotis leonurus) is just one of the many plants at Kololo that grows beautiful flowers. It is also known as Wild dagga n Afrikaans, which is similar to Dutch: “Duiwels Tabak”. The scientific name - Leonotis is derived from the Greek word, (leon) meaning lion. The – (Otis) meaning ear. This refers to the pubescent upper lip of each flower that resembles a lion’s ear, hence yet another name (Lion’s ear) It is part of the family lamiaceac (mint), and crushed leaves has a strong herby smell. The plant is a large, broadleaf, fast growing, evergreen shrub native to and very common in Southern Africa. It has attractive tubular orange flowers which is very typical for the mint family. The flowers attracts many insect species and birds – mainly sunbirds in summer. Lions Tail can also be found in California, Hawaii and Australia.

My new favorite Lion

I have had the privilege of working in the African bush and meeting new Lions for 11 years. I have been on different game reserves and national parks and Loins look and act different everywhere I go. I get to know their personalities, their territories and even their food preferences. And believe it or not, some even love camaras.